What is strategic workforce planning?

Strategic workforce planning is the process of making sure the right person is in the right place in the organisation. Mapping this out means you do not end up with too many people available, and certainly not too few. Using business analysis, finance and input from the HR department, you can build a workforce plan that supports your business goals. In doing so, you solve staffing problems for now and for the future.

Why does strategic workforce planning matter?

Having a strategic workforce plan is not just useful and convenient, it is essential on the road to organisational success. A plan like this lets you hire or recruit the right people at the right moment, so you stay a step ahead of your competitors. A good strategic workforce plan also means problems are identified earlier or avoided altogether, gives you insight into expected staffing costs, competition and pensions, and makes sure you can fill key positions (managers and leaders, for example) in good time. Ultimately, then, a strategic workforce plan means you are prepared for (unexpected) problems, which saves a great deal of time. All of this makes it easier and faster to reach your business goals.

How do you build a strategic workforce plan?

There are many different approaches to strategic workforce planning. The process of getting there is often comparable, though, and almost always follows a number of the same basic principles. It is always aligned with the organisation's strategy, for one, because that strategy determines what the company wants to achieve over the next five to ten years. That is a sound guideline for setting up your workforce plan. A good workforce plan also follows the 80/20 Pareto principle: an input of 20% delivers 80% of the result. It is therefore important to focus on the organisation's primary roles, the roles that contribute most to its results. Finally, strategic workforce planning always takes the long view.

How can software help with workforce planning?

Without the right tools, it is hard to put together a strategic workforce plan properly. Many organisations still do their workforce planning in Excel. Because the process is extremely data-driven, capturing the whole plan in Excel can be difficult. Fortunately, there are various workforce planning software tools that help you analyse the organisation's current capabilities and its people's future needs. This kind of software lets you uncover the gap between where you are now and where you want to be. With the Treams workforce planning app , for example, you can easily see the qualities of your people. The software makes it simple to run reports that quickly show which talents you already have in house and which ones you still need ( Talent review ). Once your strategic workforce plan is in place and you have started implementing it, the work is far from over. Today's world changes constantly, and so your workforce plan keeps moving too. It is important to keep following the process and to adjust it when needed.